If our yoga practice was in a film it would be you, alone in a hilltop log studio, overlooking a picturesque rain-forest. Birds and crickets the only sounds you can hear, the temperature is perfect and the surroundings are breathtaking. Your body moves effortlessly to the sounds of nature and your mind transcends the mortal, sending you into a deep medative state.
Snap back to reality, Eminem style.
You’re at home. You’ve got a ‘to-do’ list as long as your arm, a full time job, children, partner and a dog. On top of the struggle juggle you’re trying to better your health and bring a sense of calm into your life by doing yoga. You roll out your yoga mat whenever and wherever you can and this often this means there will be a little, or a lot, of distractions. Interesting, however, this can really enhance your yoga life.
How?
When we practice yoga our aim is to bring our mind, body and breath into unison. To do this you must learn to block out any external distractions. It’s why we have a Drishti (focused gaze) and why we tune in to our Ujjayi breath. Now imagine the conditions of your daily yoga practice are consistently perfect. Would you tune is to yourself as much?
Practitioners that occasionally have to practice when the conditions aren’t ideal will built up a stronger resilience to external distractions. This means they have a stronger ability to block out anything that might distract them from their focus in life, be that a career challenge or relationship issue. Anything that throw you off course from achieving your desired goal.
So the next time the neighbours upstairs are banging around during your yoga practice think, ‘ah, this serves me’. Then breath a big, loud breath and continue to focus on your practice. The more often you do this the stronger your resilience will become.
And remember, it’s called a practice for a reason! We are all practising strength, practising focus, practising determination.
All is coming.
